On Feb. 21, the friends who you always wished were your friends reunited somewhere a little more formal than the Central Perk café. The cast of the hit series, Friends, paid tribute to the TV director, James Burrows, in the two-hour NBC special Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrow.

The special commemorated the 1,000th TV episode that Burrows has directed. Burrows is known for directing episodes of many popular TV series, such as Cheers, Taxi, Frasier, Will and Grace, The Big Bang Theory, and of course, Friends. Though the special was dedicated to the TV director, let’s be real: the real reason people tuned in was to watch Friends gang reunite for the first time in 12 years.

Many of the cast members of the TV series’ that Burrows directed also reunited for the tribute special, but the so-called “Friends Reunion” was the talk of the night. The widely-popular sitcom ran for ten seasons on NBC, and even though the series ended in 2004, fans are still devoted to the six friends who they shared many laughs with over the years. The fans of the series have been waiting over ten years for the cast to come together again, and even though this kind of setting isn’t exactly what they were looking for, this will definitely do for now.

Most of the cast attended the event, such as Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, and Matt Leblanc (who played the characters Rachel, Monica, Ross, Phoebe, and Joey, respectively). Noticeably missing was Matthew Perry, who played Chandler on the TV series. Perry unfortunately couldn’t make it to the special due to him being in a play. Despite him not being in attendance, Perry still recorded a message to Burrows and introduced the cast, saying “Please welcome to the stage my friends, who just so happen to be the cast of Friends.”

Once the gang hit the stage, it was clear that they all still had the same chemistry as they did over ten years ago and it reminded us why we loved them so much. Seeing the cast awkwardly dance around the couch trying to rearrange their seating proved that the coffee-loving, NYC gang hadn’t changed one bit. This moment set up the cast’s small segment for greatness and showed that they would not disappoint during their short time on the stage. It was almost as if the gang had never left their abnormally large apartment in the city.

One of the many hosts of the night, Andy Cohen, sat down with the cast as they shared their many memories together. Courtney Cox told everyone how the three girls had lunch together every single day on set and that Jennifer Aniston had the same thing to eat each day, a salad that she referred to as “Jennifer Salad.” It was little moments like these that the cast shared with the audience that made us realize how much we missed these friends.

The cast also mentioned James Burrows during their segment. Matt Leblanc briefly brought up his vivid memory of when Burrows gave him tips for a scene they were filming after the character Ross had been hit with a hockey puck in an older episode. The gang also recalled how Burrows gave up his dressing room so the cast could play poker in it, which later inspired an episode in the series appropriately titled “The One with All the Poker.”

It’s safe to say that one of the best parts of the cast’s reunion was when they shared that they watched almost every episode together. They truly were best friends in real life. *Cue the emotions*. Also, it was revealed that most of them auditioned for parts that they weren’t casted as. For instance, Aniston auditioned for the role of Monica and Cox auditioned for Rachel. I guess this just proves that everything happens for a reason because the casting of this show could not have been any more perfect.

Basically, they should’ve just called it “The One with the Reunion.” This mini-reunion was everything the Friends fans have been waiting for. Hopefully, all six of the friends will come back to the coffee house soon and make our lives even better because this reunion was not nearly enough.